WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.720 I want you to imagine a scenario for a second. 00:00:01.820 --> 00:00:04.879 Okay. You have this coworker, right? And you 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:08.740 know, for an absolute fact, that they make about 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:12.820 $60 ,000 a year. Which is, you know, a decent 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:15.099 living. Right. It's a solid government salary. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:19.839 But suddenly, out of nowhere, they start driving 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:23.780 a $50 ,000 luxury Jaguar to the office. Oh, wow. 00:00:24.269 --> 00:00:27.589 That's that's a red flag. Yeah. And it doesn't 00:00:27.589 --> 00:00:30.030 stop there. They buy a half million dollar house 00:00:30.030 --> 00:00:32.810 in a really nice neighborhood and they pay for 00:00:32.810 --> 00:00:35.869 it straight up in literal cash. Just hand it 00:00:35.869 --> 00:00:38.450 over briefcase, basically. Exactly. Plus, they 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:40.369 completely upgrade their wardrobe. They're suddenly 00:00:40.369 --> 00:00:43.250 wearing these custom tailor made suits. They 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:46.490 even go out and get like expensive cosmetic dentistry 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:48.640 to cap their teeth. That is quite the lifestyle 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:50.859 upgrade. Right. So if you saw that, would you 00:00:50.859 --> 00:00:52.460 suspect they were just, I don't know, really, 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.659 really good at clipping coupons and budgeting? 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:57.140 Probably not. Or would you think maybe, just 00:00:57.140 --> 00:00:59.560 maybe, they were actively operating as the most 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:02.079 damaging spy in American history? I feel like 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.359 most people wouldn't jump to super spy, but in 00:01:04.359 --> 00:01:07.060 this case, yeah. Exactly. And that's why we are 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:09.480 so glad you're joining us today. I'm your host, 00:01:09.540 --> 00:01:11.620 and I'm here with our resident intelligence expert 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:16.129 to look at a case that completely... just shatters 00:01:16.129 --> 00:01:18.670 the Hollywood myth of the suave, sophisticated 00:01:18.670 --> 00:01:21.689 secret agent. It really does. Our mission for 00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:25.129 this deep dive is to unpack the life, the devastating 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:28.129 crimes, and the recent death of Aldrich Ames. 00:01:28.370 --> 00:01:31.230 We're drawing all our insights today from a comprehensive 00:01:31.230 --> 00:01:35.209 Wikipedia dossier. It details his life, his long 00:01:35.209 --> 00:01:38.349 and baffling career in the CIA, and the ultimate 00:01:38.349 --> 00:01:41.170 catastrophic betrayal that shocked the global 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:43.340 intelligence community. And it's a story that 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:45.340 recently found its final chapter, actually. Ames 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:47.659 just died in a federal prison on January 5th. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:51.159 2026 at the age of 84. What's fascinating here 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:53.540 is that when you think of espionage, your mind 00:01:53.540 --> 00:01:55.760 probably jumps straight to a glamorous James 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:58.379 Bond thriller. Oh, absolutely. You picture high 00:01:58.379 --> 00:02:01.159 speed chases through European capitals or deep 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:03.780 ideological fanaticism or at the very least a 00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:06.219 shaken martini. Right. The whole cinematic package. 00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:08.340 But what's fascinating here is that the story 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:10.939 of older James is practically the exact opposite 00:02:10.939 --> 00:02:13.659 of that fantasy. Complete opposite. This is a 00:02:13.659 --> 00:02:17.020 story about crushing mundane credit card debt. 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:20.819 It's about immense bureaucratic blind spots within 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:23.620 the most secure buildings on Earth. And ultimately, 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:27.180 it's about the sheer banality of a man who sold 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:30.500 out his own country's most valuable top tier 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.759 assets. Assets who lost their life. Yes. Costing 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.680 multiple people their lives just to fund a ridiculous 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.039 shopping habit. Which is just wild when you think 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:41.400 about the stakes involved here. And to really 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:43.039 understand how this happened, we have to start 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.719 at the beginning. Because Ames wasn't exactly 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.750 bred to be a... a super spy prodigy. Far from 00:02:48.750 --> 00:02:51.610 it. He was, for all intents and purposes, a nepotism 00:02:51.610 --> 00:02:53.689 hire. Yeah, that's the best way to put it. His 00:02:53.689 --> 00:02:56.909 father, Carlton Cecil Ames, worked for the CIA's 00:02:56.909 --> 00:02:58.830 Directorate of Operations. And that's basically 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:01.430 the clandestine heart of the agency. The people 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:03.750 actually out there in the world. Right. Recruiting 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:06.689 spies, running covert missions. But his father 00:03:06.689 --> 00:03:09.509 had a severe problem with alcoholism. He received 00:03:09.509 --> 00:03:11.770 some incredibly negative performance reviews 00:03:11.770 --> 00:03:14.009 and eventually just rode out the rest of his 00:03:14.009 --> 00:03:16.949 career at CIA headquarters. Just duty. Exactly. 00:03:16.969 --> 00:03:19.270 So Aldrich, who went by Rick, kind of just drifted 00:03:19.270 --> 00:03:22.389 into the agency's orbit. As a teenager, he did 00:03:22.389 --> 00:03:26.689 summer jobs for the CIA as a low ranking records 00:03:26.689 --> 00:03:29.349 analyst. Doing filing and stuff. Yeah. And part 00:03:29.349 --> 00:03:31.669 of his job was literally making fake money for 00:03:31.669 --> 00:03:34.590 training exercises at the farm, which is the 00:03:34.590 --> 00:03:37.150 facility where CIA trainees learn the ropes. 00:03:37.289 --> 00:03:39.789 Counterfeit practice money. Yeah. Then he goes 00:03:39.789 --> 00:03:42.889 off to the University of Chicago. But he completely 00:03:42.889 --> 00:03:45.409 fails out. Just flunks out entirely. Entirely. 00:03:45.409 --> 00:03:48.490 And why? Because he developed a massive passion 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:51.629 for theater and basically stopped studying anything 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:53.870 else. Which is a tragic kind of irony, really. 00:03:54.069 --> 00:03:56.889 How so? Well, given that he would later put on 00:03:56.889 --> 00:04:00.710 the most high stakes, lethal theatrical performance 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:03.729 of his life. Right under the CIA's nose. Oh, 00:04:03.789 --> 00:04:05.370 that is a good point. He was acting the whole 00:04:05.370 --> 00:04:07.530 time. Exactly. So after failing out of Chicago, 00:04:07.889 --> 00:04:10.009 he eventually pulls things together enough to 00:04:10.009 --> 00:04:12.090 finish a history degree at George Washington 00:04:12.090 --> 00:04:14.750 University. And that degree is what allows him 00:04:14.750 --> 00:04:17.110 to get accepted into the CIA's career trainee 00:04:17.110 --> 00:04:19.889 program. But right from the jump, the warning 00:04:19.889 --> 00:04:22.970 signs were there. Oh, flashing brightly for anyone 00:04:22.970 --> 00:04:25.629 willing to look. OK, let's unpack this, because 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:27.910 the early red flags are just baffling to read 00:04:27.910 --> 00:04:31.110 about today. During his very first polygraph 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:33.889 examination, he casually admits to committing 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:35.970 a crime. Right, to the examiner's face. Right. 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:38.449 He tells them that he and a friend got drunk, 00:04:38.610 --> 00:04:41.949 stole a delivery boy's bicycle, and went joyriding. 00:04:42.110 --> 00:04:45.480 And the CIA just let it slide. They didn't consider 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:48.500 a drunken theft grave enough to deny his security 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:50.480 clearance. It was a different time, I guess. 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:53.399 I guess so. But it gets worse. Later on, he gets 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:55.779 posted to New York City and he literally leaves 00:04:55.779 --> 00:04:58.839 a briefcase full of classified operational materials 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:02.139 on a New York subway train. Unbelievable. The 00:05:02.139 --> 00:05:04.459 FBI had to be called in to recover it. Can you 00:05:04.459 --> 00:05:06.740 imagine the panic of losing classified documents 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:09.720 on public transit? It's a massive security breach. 00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:12.160 And it wasn't just an isolated incident of carelessness. 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:14.649 It was a pattern fueled by his... drinking. Like 00:05:14.649 --> 00:05:17.790 while he was posted in Mexico City, he gets into 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:20.970 this loud, drunken argument with a Cuban official 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:23.910 at a diplomatic reception. In public. In public. 00:05:23.990 --> 00:05:26.310 It caused genuine alarm among his superiors. 00:05:26.509 --> 00:05:28.629 Yeah. And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:32.170 you really have to ask yourself, why on earth 00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:35.170 did the CIA keep promoting a guy with alcohol 00:05:35.170 --> 00:05:38.490 related police brushes? A guy who leaves top 00:05:38.490 --> 00:05:41.360 secret documents on subway cars. It makes no 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:43.980 sense. It comes down to a classic case of in 00:05:43.980 --> 00:05:47.220 -group bias. The intelligence community at that 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:50.720 time had this intensely insular culture. The 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.480 CIA had built this massive fortress to keep enemies 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:55.899 out, but they completely forgot to lock the doors 00:05:55.899 --> 00:05:57.540 inside. They assumed everyone in the building 00:05:57.540 --> 00:05:59.819 was a good guy. Exactly. They assumed anyone 00:05:59.819 --> 00:06:02.620 with a badge was automatically a loyal saint. 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:05.079 Now, he did have moments of strange success. 00:06:05.870 --> 00:06:07.930 During an early assignment in Ankara, Turkey, 00:06:08.449 --> 00:06:10.750 Ames actually managed to infiltrate a communist 00:06:10.750 --> 00:06:12.829 organization. He did, yeah. But he did it through 00:06:12.829 --> 00:06:15.129 some truly bizarre connections. He leveraged 00:06:15.129 --> 00:06:17.610 a student activist roommate and a beauty pageant 00:06:17.610 --> 00:06:20.410 contestant. So weird. It was a weird win. But 00:06:20.410 --> 00:06:22.709 even with that on his record, his superiors rated 00:06:22.709 --> 00:06:26.329 him as unsuited for field work. They explicitly 00:06:26.329 --> 00:06:28.589 recommended he spend the rest of his career behind 00:06:28.589 --> 00:06:31.810 a desk. Which is where he ended up. Yes. And 00:06:31.810 --> 00:06:34.069 he thrived in those headquarters, desk jobs, 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:37.350 managing assets. There was a systemic tolerance 00:06:37.350 --> 00:06:40.949 for flawed individuals within the agency back 00:06:40.949 --> 00:06:43.569 then, as long as they produced paperwork that 00:06:43.569 --> 00:06:46.129 was deemed satisfactory. So as long as the files 00:06:46.129 --> 00:06:49.110 looked good. Right. If you filled out your forms, 00:06:49.290 --> 00:06:52.629 your drinking and your sloppiness were just treated 00:06:52.629 --> 00:06:54.670 as part of the furniture. Overlooked until it 00:06:54.670 --> 00:06:58.129 was far too late. Which brings us to the 1980s 00:06:58.129 --> 00:07:00.939 and the ultimate tipping point. It's important 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:02.699 to remember the backdrop here for you listening. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:06.699 The 1980s Cold War was a period of intense nuclear 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:09.300 standoff between the US and the Soviet Union. 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:12.019 Intelligence was absolutely everything. Everything. 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:14.540 So into this high stakes environment walks Aldrich 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:17.480 Ames, now in his 40s, and his personal life is 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:20.100 an absolute financial disaster zone. A total 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:22.660 mess. He's separating from his first wife, Nancy, 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:25.980 who, by the way, was also a CIA officer, and 00:07:25.980 --> 00:07:27.939 the divorce settlement mandates he pay off their 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:30.459 shared debts and provide monthly support. Which 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:33.879 was not cheap. No. It comes out to about $46 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:37.600 ,000, which was a massive sum for a government 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:41.199 employee back then. On top of that, he has started 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.139 an affair with a Colombian cultural attache named 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:47.259 Rosario Casas Dupuy, who he eventually marries. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.180 And Rosario has a staggering spending habit. 00:07:50.339 --> 00:07:53.879 Oh my gosh, yes. The dossier notes she was racking 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:57.639 up phone bills of $5 ,000 a month just calling 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:01.279 her family back in Colombia. $5 ,000 a month. 00:08:01.949 --> 00:08:03.949 Just on phone calls. Ames is looking at his bank 00:08:03.949 --> 00:08:06.129 accounts, looking at his new lavish lifestyle 00:08:06.129 --> 00:08:08.850 and realizing he is staring down the barrel of 00:08:08.850 --> 00:08:11.949 total bankruptcy. This raises an important question. 00:08:12.370 --> 00:08:14.250 Plenty of people out there have crippling credit 00:08:14.250 --> 00:08:16.850 card debt and demanding spouses, but they don't 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:18.550 turn around and commit high treason. Right. Most 00:08:18.550 --> 00:08:21.089 people just get a second job. Exactly. How does 00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:23.189 someone make that leap from bad budgeting to 00:08:23.189 --> 00:08:25.420 selling out their country? Well, according to 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:27.399 Ames himself, it started out as a one -time thing. 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:31.060 Just a quick fix. In April 1985, he reached out 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:33.440 to the Soviets and offered them the names of 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:35.940 two CIA agents that he believed were essentially 00:08:35.940 --> 00:08:38.559 valueless. He thought they didn't matter. Right. 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:41.120 It was a calculated move just to establish his 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:44.539 credentials as a legitimate insider. In exchange, 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:48.820 he asked for a flat $50 ,000 to cover his immediate 00:08:48.820 --> 00:08:51.950 debts. And the Soviets paid it. Of course they 00:08:51.950 --> 00:08:54.149 did. They recognized the goldmine they were dealing 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:57.289 with and paid it instantly. Ames later tried 00:08:57.289 --> 00:09:00.129 to justify this, calling it an initial con game. 00:09:00.309 --> 00:09:02.649 A con game that went entirely too far. Yeah. 00:09:02.690 --> 00:09:04.730 Because once they handed over that 50 grand, 00:09:05.070 --> 00:09:07.970 the hook was set. He had crossed a line he couldn't 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:10.190 uncross. It's the brutal psychology of the breach. 00:09:10.929 --> 00:09:12.870 Ames later admitted to a chilling realization. 00:09:13.590 --> 00:09:16.690 The moment he took Soviet money, he became infinitely 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:19.190 vulnerable to exposure where the very Soviet 00:09:19.190 --> 00:09:22.009 assets the CIA and FBI had recruited. Because 00:09:22.009 --> 00:09:24.330 he knew the system. He knew exactly how it worked. 00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:26.730 If a Soviet intelligence officer working for 00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:29.830 the Americans saw a CIA mole being paid off, 00:09:30.009 --> 00:09:31.970 they would report it back to Washington. And 00:09:31.970 --> 00:09:34.490 Ames would be caught. To protect himself, he 00:09:34.490 --> 00:09:36.990 realized he had to eliminate the people who might 00:09:36.990 --> 00:09:39.450 know about his betrayal. He didn't just sell 00:09:39.450 --> 00:09:42.009 secrets. He sold human beings to save his own 00:09:42.009 --> 00:09:44.460 skin. The human cost here is just devastating. 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:47.139 We're talking about an unprecedented intelligence 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:51.240 catastrophe. Ames compromised over 100 American 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:53.480 intelligence operations. Just wipe them out. 00:09:53.620 --> 00:09:57.100 And more horrifically, his information led directly 00:09:57.100 --> 00:10:00.080 to the execution of at least 10 human sources. 00:10:00.909 --> 00:10:02.669 These weren't just names on a file. They were 00:10:02.669 --> 00:10:06.169 real people taking massive risks. Often for deeply 00:10:06.169 --> 00:10:08.769 personal or ideological reasons. Right. Not for 00:10:08.769 --> 00:10:11.990 money. Exactly. Their motivation stood in stark 00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:16.019 contrast to Ames' sheer greed. Consider Major 00:10:16.019 --> 00:10:19.419 General Dmitry Polyakov. Yes, his story is incredible. 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:21.940 He was a very high -ranking figure in the GRU, 00:10:21.980 --> 00:10:24.580 which is Soviet military intelligence. He had 00:10:24.580 --> 00:10:26.139 been passing incredibly valuable information 00:10:26.139 --> 00:10:28.620 to the CIA since the early 1960s. Decades of 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:31.700 work. Decades. And one CIA official explicitly 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:33.820 noted that Polyakov didn't do it for the money. 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:36.200 In fact, he insisted on staying in place because 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:38.100 he genuinely wanted to help the United States 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:40.299 and push back against Soviet hardliners. He was 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:42.700 an ideological ally. A true believer in what 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:44.649 he was doing. Yeah. And Ames sold him out for 00:10:44.649 --> 00:10:47.929 cash. Polyakov was executed in 1988. That is 00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:50.230 heartbreaking. And the story of Sergei Fedorenko 00:10:50.230 --> 00:10:52.669 is even more personal. And honestly, it's just 00:10:52.669 --> 00:10:55.429 twisted. It really is. Fedorenko was a Soviet 00:10:55.429 --> 00:10:58.669 nuclear weapons expert. Ames was actually assigned 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:01.149 to handle him in the late 70s. They spent so 00:11:01.149 --> 00:11:03.090 much time together that they became incredibly 00:11:03.090 --> 00:11:06.320 close friends. Real friends. Yeah. When Fedorenko 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:08.960 had to return to Moscow, the two men actually 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:12.320 hugged goodbye. Ames later said, we trusted each 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:16.299 other completely. Wow. But in 1985, Ames decides 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:19.759 to betray his friend to the KGB just to, quote, 00:11:19.940 --> 00:11:23.000 do a good job for his new handlers. The betrayal 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.740 of Fedorenko really highlights the depth of Ames' 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:28.980 sociopathy. It does. But Fedorenko somehow manages 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:31.340 to use political connections to survive that 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:35.039 first betrayal. He avoids execution. Years later, 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.019 he actually escapes, defects to the West, and 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:40.500 reunites with Ames over lunch. This part is so 00:11:40.500 --> 00:11:42.940 crazy to me. It's this incredibly emotional reunion. 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:45.639 Fedorenko tells Ames he wants to move to the 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:47.960 U .S. for good, and Ames looks his old friend 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:50.559 in the eye, smiles, and promises to help him. 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:52.379 And then what does he do? Shortly after that 00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:55.419 lunch, Ames goes straight back and betrays Fedorenko 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.269 to the KGB for a second time. It is genuinely 00:11:58.269 --> 00:12:00.669 hard to wrap your mind around that level of betrayal. 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:03.610 Smiling at someone over lunch while actively 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:06.009 plotting to hand them over to an executioner. 00:12:06.110 --> 00:12:08.389 It's cold blooded. And the damage wasn't just 00:12:08.389 --> 00:12:10.210 limited to the people who were killed. The ripple 00:12:10.210 --> 00:12:13.009 effects damaged the entire geopolitical landscape. 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:16.049 Absolutely. Because Ames handed over so much 00:12:16.049 --> 00:12:19.570 operational information about CIA methods, the 00:12:19.570 --> 00:12:22.450 KGB realized exactly what the U .S. knew and 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:24.409 didn't know. They saw the whole playbook. And 00:12:24.409 --> 00:12:27.870 they used it to turn the tables. From 1986 to 00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:31.950 1993, the KGB used controlled agents. What does 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:34.330 that mean exactly? These were spies the U .S. 00:12:34.330 --> 00:12:36.710 thought were loyal to America. But they were 00:12:36.710 --> 00:12:39.009 actually working for Moscow, feeding American 00:12:39.009 --> 00:12:42.190 intelligence a mix of genuine data and targeted 00:12:42.190 --> 00:12:44.610 disinformation. So the U .S. was acting on bad 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:47.450 info. Exactly. This feed material made its way 00:12:47.450 --> 00:12:50.370 into official CIA intelligence reports, polluting 00:12:50.370 --> 00:12:53.279 the system. Some of those poison reports reached 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.519 the desks of three different U .S. presidents. 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:58.340 Directly influencing top -level decision -making. 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:01.279 Yes. Now, it's important to note that the intelligence 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:03.620 community still debates the full scope of this. 00:13:03.779 --> 00:13:06.240 Our sources highlight conflicting historical 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.480 views on some of these cases. Right. There's 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.659 not total consensus. For instance, Tenet Bagley, 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:14.220 a high -level CIA counterintelligence officer, 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.759 later argued that some of the betrayed spies, 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.350 like... Vitaly Yershenko, might not have been 00:13:20.350 --> 00:13:22.950 betrayed at all. Bagley believed they were actually 00:13:22.950 --> 00:13:26.590 loyal KGB false defectors planted to manipulate 00:13:26.590 --> 00:13:29.230 the CIA from the start. Wow. And we're not taking 00:13:29.230 --> 00:13:31.850 a side on that historical debate. We're just 00:13:31.850 --> 00:13:34.590 imparting the information from the sources. But 00:13:34.590 --> 00:13:37.330 it shows just how thoroughly Ames' actions muddied 00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:39.769 the waters. Nobody knew what was real anymore. 00:13:40.090 --> 00:13:42.590 The paranoia was absolute. Here's where it gets 00:13:42.590 --> 00:13:44.639 really interesting, though. With all of this 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.340 chaos, with agents disappearing and operations 00:13:47.340 --> 00:13:49.960 imploding left and right, you would think Ames 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:52.240 would be laying low. You'd think he'd be terrified. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:54.720 Right. You'd think he'd be burying his blood 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:56.960 money in the woods or hiding it in offshore accounts. 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:00.480 Not even close. Ames was living like an eccentric 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.120 billionaire right in plain sight in the suburbs 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:06.120 of Washington, D .C. So brazen. Over the course 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:09.539 of his espionage, he earned about $4 .6 million 00:14:09.539 --> 00:14:12.940 from the KGB. And he and Rosario spent it in 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:15.559 the most ridiculous ways imaginable. The shopping's 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:17.879 breeze. When the FBI eventually searched their 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:20.320 home, they didn't just find a few luxury items. 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:24.840 They found 60 purses, over 500 pairs of shoes. 00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:30.259 They found 165 unopened boxes of pantyhose. Wait. 00:14:31.539 --> 00:14:35.659 165 boxes. Unopened. Completely unopened. Plus, 00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:39.299 they found six Rolex watches. Ames, who used 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:41.059 to be known around the office for his bargain 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:43.840 basement clothing, was suddenly walking the halls 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.500 of the CIA wearing custom, tailor -made suits. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:49.320 That alone should have triggered an audit. You 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.539 would think. And the crown jewel of this bizarre 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:55.799 spending spree was a $540 ,000 house in Arlington, 00:14:55.960 --> 00:14:58.340 Virginia, which he paid for entirely in cash. 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:02.179 On a government salary of $60 ,000. That's not 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:04.299 just living beyond your means. That's broadcasting 00:15:04.299 --> 00:15:07.080 a massive financial anomaly to the entire world. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:08.519 If you're listening to this right now, you're 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:10.220 probably pulling your hair out wondering, how 00:15:10.220 --> 00:15:13.019 on earth did the CIA miss this? It's the multi 00:15:13.019 --> 00:15:14.940 -million dollar question. And it wasn't just 00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:17.679 the money either. Ames was actively chalking 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:21.039 mailboxes in Washington, D .C. Old school spy 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.220 craft. Yeah, he would leave a horizontal mark 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:26.120 above the USPS logo at the corner of 37th and 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:28.940 R Streets to signal his handlers for a meeting. 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:31.980 He was openly having lunch with Sergei Chufakin, 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:35.120 his Soviet contact. Just out in the open. Ames' 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.360 cover story for All the Wealth was simply that 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.980 his Colombian wife came from a wealthy family 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:42.299 and everyone just kind of nodded and went along 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:45.220 with it. The blindness of the agency is a masterclass 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:48.519 in institutional denial. When their Soviet block 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:50.860 agent started disappearing at an alarming rate 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:54.639 in 1985, the CIA was incredibly reluctant to 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.879 believe a mole existed. It's a bitter pill to 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:59.340 swallow. Nobody wants to think one of their own 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:02.080 is a traitor. They initially blamed the massive 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:05.159 losses on Edward Lee Howard, a former CIA agent 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:08.179 who had also defected. Or they assumed the Soviets 00:16:08.179 --> 00:16:10.600 had planted listening devices or broken their 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.179 communications codes. Anything but a mole. Anything 00:16:13.179 --> 00:16:15.700 but a mole. Eventually, they did assemble a mole 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:18.690 hunt team. Featuring dedicated figures like Paul 00:16:18.690 --> 00:16:22.409 Redmond, Jean Vertefoy, Sandra Grimes, and Diana 00:16:22.409 --> 00:16:24.610 Worthen. But they were fighting an uphill battle 00:16:24.610 --> 00:16:26.929 against their own agency's culture. Shout out 00:16:26.929 --> 00:16:28.950 to Diana Worthen, by the way. She actually knew 00:16:28.950 --> 00:16:31.309 Rosario before the marriage. And she was talking 00:16:31.309 --> 00:16:33.830 to her about installing drapes in the new Arlington 00:16:33.830 --> 00:16:37.710 house. A cash house. Yeah. Worthen knew custom 00:16:37.710 --> 00:16:40.429 drapes were incredibly expensive and asked which 00:16:40.429 --> 00:16:42.649 room they were going to do first. Rosario just 00:16:42.649 --> 00:16:44.549 laughed and said, don't worry about the price. 00:16:44.649 --> 00:16:46.690 We're doing the whole house at once. That is 00:16:46.690 --> 00:16:48.929 quite a flex. And more than new for a fact that 00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:51.769 Rosario's family wasn't that wealthy. That was 00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:53.690 a huge tip off that eventually got the gears 00:16:53.690 --> 00:16:57.070 turning. It was a crucial puzzle piece. But the 00:16:57.070 --> 00:17:00.250 investigation was still agonizingly slow. The 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:02.750 mole hunt team was constantly diverted by false 00:17:02.750 --> 00:17:06.170 leads, including a completely fabricated story 00:17:06.170 --> 00:17:08.829 from an officer abroad claiming the mole was 00:17:08.829 --> 00:17:11.950 born in the USSR. Which Ames wasn't. Exactly. 00:17:12.309 --> 00:17:15.049 But the biggest shield Ames had, the thing that 00:17:15.049 --> 00:17:18.450 kept him safe for years, was the polygraph. He 00:17:18.450 --> 00:17:22.109 passed two separate polygraph tests in 1986 and 00:17:22.109 --> 00:17:25.970 1991 while actively spying for the Soviet Union. 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:29.390 How is that even possible? The KGB simply told 00:17:29.390 --> 00:17:31.950 him to get a good night's sleep, relax, and build 00:17:31.950 --> 00:17:34.750 rapport with the examiner. Ames later said there 00:17:34.750 --> 00:17:37.630 was no magic to it. He just smiled, acted friendly, 00:17:37.750 --> 00:17:39.769 and made the examiner believe the test was no 00:17:39.769 --> 00:17:41.950 big deal. Just charmed his way through it. Yeah. 00:17:42.349 --> 00:17:44.690 The examiners were reportedly overly friendly, 00:17:44.910 --> 00:17:47.789 which is a massive failure because the machine 00:17:47.789 --> 00:17:50.849 measures physiological stress responses, like 00:17:50.849 --> 00:17:53.029 heart rate and sweat. If you're just chatting 00:17:53.029 --> 00:17:55.190 with a buddy, there's no stress to measure. So 00:17:55.190 --> 00:17:57.390 what does this all mean? It means you can have 00:17:57.390 --> 00:17:59.309 the most sophisticated spy -catching apparatus 00:17:59.309 --> 00:18:01.849 in the world, and it can be entirely defeated 00:18:01.849 --> 00:18:03.910 by a guy just acting chummy and confident in 00:18:03.910 --> 00:18:06.660 a chair. Pretty much. But eventually, the sheer 00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:09.160 weight of the evidence, the undeniable cash flow, 00:18:09.259 --> 00:18:11.640 caught up to him. They couldn't ignore it forever. 00:18:11.980 --> 00:18:17.700 No. By March 1993, the CIA and FBI finally launched 00:18:17.700 --> 00:18:20.900 an intensive joint investigation. They were done 00:18:20.900 --> 00:18:23.809 taking his word for it. They shifted from internal 00:18:23.809 --> 00:18:26.650 audits to full -blown criminal surveillance. 00:18:26.670 --> 00:18:29.170 They go full surveillance mode. They are physically 00:18:29.170 --> 00:18:31.890 tracking his every move around the city. They're 00:18:31.890 --> 00:18:33.450 digging through his trash in the middle of the 00:18:33.450 --> 00:18:35.910 night, piecing together shredded documents and 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:38.789 printer ribbons. It's tedious work. Super tedious. 00:18:39.009 --> 00:18:42.190 They secretly install a tracking monitor inside 00:18:42.190 --> 00:18:45.269 that fancy Jaguar. The tension really ramps up 00:18:45.269 --> 00:18:47.509 because they know they have to make their move. 00:18:47.670 --> 00:18:50.170 The clock was ticking. Ames is scheduled to attend 00:18:50.170 --> 00:18:52.569 an intelligence conference in Moscow in early 00:18:52.569 --> 00:18:55.950 1994. And the FBI is terrified he might just 00:18:55.950 --> 00:18:58.049 defect and never come back. Once he's in Moscow, 00:18:58.210 --> 00:19:01.430 he's gone. Right. So on February 21st, 1994, 00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:04.509 they pull him over in his Jaguar. They arrest 00:19:04.509 --> 00:19:07.630 him and Rosario. And Ames, in this incredible 00:19:07.630 --> 00:19:10.109 moment of delusion or maybe just a deeply ingrained 00:19:10.109 --> 00:19:12.309 habit, yells at the arresting officers, you're 00:19:12.309 --> 00:19:14.130 making a big mistake. You must have the wrong 00:19:14.130 --> 00:19:16.809 man. It's the ultimate bluff played right to 00:19:16.809 --> 00:19:20.109 the very end. But there was no talking his way 00:19:20.109 --> 00:19:22.609 out of the mountain of physical and financial 00:19:22.609 --> 00:19:25.930 evidence they had compiled. The very next day, 00:19:25.990 --> 00:19:28.670 the Department of Justice formally charged them 00:19:28.670 --> 00:19:31.789 both. He had to know it was over. Ames knew he 00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:34.789 was entirely beaten. He pleaded guilty, admitting 00:19:34.789 --> 00:19:37.390 he had compromised virtually all Soviet agents 00:19:37.390 --> 00:19:40.420 known to him. The aftermath was a seismic shock 00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:43.200 to the system. Judge Claude M. Hilton sentenced 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:45.660 Aldridge Ames to life imprisonment without the 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:48.740 possibility of parole. A life sentence. As part 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:50.980 of a plea bargain to protect her, Rosario received 00:19:50.980 --> 00:19:53.799 a lesser sentence of five years for tax evasion 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.259 and conspiracy. But outside the courtroom, the 00:19:56.259 --> 00:19:58.880 public and political uproar was deafening. People 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:01.460 were outraged. Congress was absolutely furious, 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:04.140 demanding accountability for the decade of institutional 00:20:04.140 --> 00:20:06.880 blindness. And what did the CIA director James 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:09.859 Woolsey do? This part is wild. He refused to 00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:12.460 fire or even demote anyone involved in the catastrophic 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:15.519 oversight. Woolsey famously declared, some have 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.420 clamored for heads to roll. Sorry, that's not 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:20.839 my way. Which did not go over well. Not at all. 00:20:21.019 --> 00:20:24.420 The backlash to that arrogant stance was so severe 00:20:24.420 --> 00:20:27.200 that Woolsey was eventually forced to resign 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:30.259 under extreme pressure. It was a deeply painful 00:20:30.259 --> 00:20:32.819 reckoning that forced the intelligence community 00:20:32.819 --> 00:20:35.920 to drastically overhaul how it monitored its 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:39.759 own people. especially regarding financial disclosures 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:41.420 and background checks. They had to change the 00:20:41.420 --> 00:20:44.619 rules. Congress even had to pass new laws granting 00:20:44.619 --> 00:20:47.160 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court specific 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:50.480 powers for searches. Because Ames' lawyers had 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:52.460 threatened to challenge the FBI's warrantless 00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:55.230 searches of his home. It fundamentally changed 00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:57.509 the legal landscape of counterintelligence. And 00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:00.109 that brings us to the end of the line. Ames spent 00:21:00.109 --> 00:21:02.910 decades bouncing between maximum and medium security 00:21:02.910 --> 00:21:06.190 federal prisons in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and 00:21:06.190 --> 00:21:09.109 finally Maryland. He lived to see the world completely 00:21:09.109 --> 00:21:11.549 transform from the Cold War era he manipulated. 00:21:11.829 --> 00:21:13.650 He's in it for a long time. Yeah. Passing away 00:21:13.650 --> 00:21:16.609 just recently on January 5th, 2026 at the age 00:21:16.609 --> 00:21:19.410 of 84 inside the Federal Correctional Institution 00:21:19.410 --> 00:21:22.380 in Cumberland. It's quite a legacy. Okay. Let's 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:24.279 take a breath and look back at this incredible 00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:27.640 journey we've just taken. We started with a legacy 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:31.400 CIA kid whose dad had a drinking problem. A guy 00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:33.839 who flunked out of college for theater. Who left 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:36.579 top secret briefs on the subway. Right. Who was 00:21:36.579 --> 00:21:39.680 deemed totally unsuited for field work. And yet, 00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:43.000 driven by the most mundane motivations imaginable, 00:21:43.059 --> 00:21:46.200 credit card debt, a costly divorce, and a spouse 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:48.559 who liked expensive shoes and international phone 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:51.779 calls. He completely dismantled the American 00:21:51.779 --> 00:21:54.180 intelligence apparatus. It's a sobering reminder. 00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:56.799 It really is. It reminds us that world -altering 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.079 treachery doesn't always require ideological 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:02.579 zealotry or a grand villainous master plan. Sometimes 00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:04.660 it just requires a guy trying to pay off his 00:22:04.660 --> 00:22:07.579 premium credit cards and a bureaucracy too polite 00:22:07.579 --> 00:22:10.000 to ask how he affords his car. And that leads 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.579 me to a thought I'd love for you to mull over 00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:14.019 as we wrap up today's deep dive. Think about 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:16.420 exactly how Ames communicated with his handlers. 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:19.000 The chalk marks. We're talking about a horizontal... 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:22.079 chalk marks drawn on physical mailboxes in Washington, 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:26.319 D .C., and literal bags of cash handed over during 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:29.779 boozy lunches. Very analog. Very analog. Now, 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.740 contrast that with our modern era. Today, we 00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:35.319 live in a world of inescapable digital footprints, 00:22:35.619 --> 00:22:39.619 ubiquitous surveillance cameras, and highly traceable 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:41.700 cryptocurrency ledgers. It's a different world. 00:22:42.089 --> 00:22:45.210 It is highly, highly unlikely that a government 00:22:45.210 --> 00:22:48.349 employee today could quietly buy a $500 ,000 00:22:48.349 --> 00:22:51.730 house in pure cash without triggering a dozen 00:22:51.730 --> 00:22:54.589 automated algorithmic alarms at their bank. The 00:22:54.589 --> 00:22:56.950 algorithms would catch it instantly. Yet, while 00:22:56.950 --> 00:22:59.069 the technology of espionage and security has 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:01.509 evolved drastically, the human vulnerabilities 00:23:01.509 --> 00:23:04.009 at the core of this story remain exactly the 00:23:04.009 --> 00:23:07.069 same. Crushing debt. Bruised ego. And the desperate 00:23:07.069 --> 00:23:10.250 need to feel important. So the question is, will 00:23:10.250 --> 00:23:12.259 the next Aldridge Ames... be caught instantly 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:15.680 by an unblinking algorithm? Or will human psychology, 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:17.940 with all its deceptive charm and rapport building, 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:20.680 always find a way to outsmart the system? That 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:22.799 is exactly the kind of question that keeps us 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.859 up at night. Thank you so much for joining us 00:23:24.859 --> 00:23:26.839 on this deep dive into the life, the lies, and 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:29.079 the legacy of Aldrich Ames. Keep your eyes open, 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:31.299 keep asking the hard questions, and never stop 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:33.240 questioning the world around you. We'll see you 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:33.619 next time.